Thank God Its Friday,

Well, the weather in Cowtown moderated today and the high was supposed to be 64 and I think it made it. It is now about 6pm and I'm here at my desk for my "quiet time" before I head home. I try to leave by 6:30 pm each day, just in time to listen to "Marketplace" on NPR. Right now there are all kinds of sirens going off outside on the streets. Probably a big wreck as someone got in too big a hurry to get in the 6-lane parking lot. I'm laid back with a cold Becks Bier in my hand, when I'm not typing. I would have walked today but my walking partner, James, bailed out of work early. I haven't walked in over two weeks now and I'm really starting to get guilt pangs over it. I don't know if I have any new pictures to post today as I'm running out of those saved on my computer. There are a lot on there but, they are spread all over the place. If you see some, you'll know that I found some. The political mud-slinging has started early, claiming that Barack Obamma was sent to a Muslim school in his formative years. My mother-in-law, a die-hard Republican forwarded some e-mail that was published about him. I think that the right-wings must really be scared of him, whereas I can only be impressed by listening to him. It is so nice listening to someone who is so educated and articulate. After listening to "W" stumble over his tongue for the last 6 years, it is a welcome relief. I can imagine hell to be like this. I'm standing waist-deep in shit in a small room with "W" on my left and Rush Limbaugh on my right and I have no ear plugs. If I've really been bad, Satan may throw in Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Jeez, just the thought of that makes me want to convert. Well, enough for now. I'll try to find some pictures to upload.

Falstaff Forum

Well, tis the 25th day of January, and the State of the Union Speech is behind us once again. Once again, I sat there, mouth agape, watching the theartrics and listening to the rhetoric. I don't know why the American public should have to put up with all that superfical applause and back patting. Why can't it be an honest event? The highlight of the whole display was the recognizing the comman-man heros in the gallery. Anyway, looks like we are going to try the "Bigger Truck" theory as a solution to the 21st century Quagmire. I am so glad that there is no draft and my sons will not be called upon to put their lives at risk for what I see as a hopless situation. I am so thankful that we have an all-voulanteer military. I had strongly encouraged my older son to enlist years ago and now I'm so glad he chose not to. I, being of sound mind however, encouraged him to either enlist in the Air Force or the Coast Guard as my mother had pulled strings to get me into the National Guard during Viet Nam. I guess that my take on war is this. If I don't belive in the cause enough to go and do it myself, then I sure as hell wouldn't ask someone else to do the job. But, old men send young men off to war. That's just the way it is. If you have every watched the clubbing of the young male seal pups up north, I think in Canada, for their fur, then you can understand why a surplus of young males are genetically disposable. Old men are too smart to go off to war. Remember the Creedence Clearwater song "Favorite Son"? Wonder what Lush and Lushious, the Bush twins, are doing these days?? I bet they are not ass-deep in desert sand executing daddy's cause. At least the Brits have some pride and the Royals, all but the direct heirs, serve in the military. If we are going to send people off to war, it ought to be everyone's responsibility, like the Isrealites. They all have to serve, as it should be here. Maybe then, we would take war a little more seriously. BEER NUMBER 3. Remember The Alamo! My Ass!!! I watched not too long ago, on PBS, a two-part series on the little known or thought about war between the US and Mexico. Hell, the Spaniards stole Texas First! And now, here we sit, begrudging the poor-ass Mexicans the opportunity to come here and gut chickens in our slaughterhouses, lay sod in our yards, and bus tables in our restaurants! We can never seal the southern border and here is why. Remember the Berlin Wall? The dirty commie bastards put it up to keep people from tasting the good life of capitalism. Yet, people risked their lives to dig under and crash over the wall anyway they could for a better life. To have a sealed border with Mexico would not only require erecting the wall, (which we are doing) but also having machine gun towers set at every 100 meters with Shoot To Kill Orders. But, remember us, we're the good guys who wear white hats. We could never do what the dirty commies did, could we? Before anyone bitches about the Mexicans, I think they ought to imagine themselves wearing their Steel-Belted Radial Sandals for a moment. I often think about my white spoiled European/American ass and wonder if I would have the courage to do what they do. Would I have the courage to leave my family, ride on top of the death train for countless miles, pay some coyote all my money then set out across the desert with 2 milk cartons of water in search of the American Dream. The American dream of working at Swift and Company on the killing floor, cutting animals throats and wading in blood and guts all day to go home to my one-bedroom tenacy shared with 6-8 of my closet companions. Probably not. I inherited the good life. I didn't earn it. By the way, the first Marine killed in Iraq was from Central America and not even an American citizen. I don't deny that illegal immigration is a problem, especially in our schools and heatlh care system. It is. But, I don't feel like I would be capable of manning the machine gun to shoot illegals as they tried to cross, consequently, I would ask no other to do the job. I have known, employed, and worked side-by-side with first-generation immigrants and I have a great respect for them. I can remember as far back as when I was a little boy, probably 6 or 7 having a bus load of Mexicans come to our farm in Arkansas and chop cotten. I have chopped and picked cotten and I decided that the farm is a good place to be from. Last summer the wife and I were driving down the coast highway coming into Monterrey. Ca. and as I saw the fields of strawberries with laborers on their hand and knees picking them it really made me appreciate being able to buy fresh strawberries in the supermarket. Someone provides that for us. Well, enough for now with my left-of-left, bleeding-heart politics for now. I'm going to try to post pictures of my daughter's dog as she is jealous over the pictures posted of Tyson, my grandpuppy. Older Whiskey...

Grandpuppy gets a Haircut, The Ice Man Stayeth

Jeez its COLD!!! Tis 4:30 pm on Tuesday and it is still below freezing. Been that way since early am Saturday. Well, I gave James a gift certificate to Pets Mart so he could get my Grandpuppy a proper grooming. I was tired of him looking like he was from the wrong side of the pound. Anyway, Arin took him yesterday and got the job done because waiting on James is like waiting on Molasses to pour in January. She took some pictures and James brought them in this morning. Take a look and you'll see before and after. Also, there is some pictures of the kids taken at Peggy's over Christmas. Not much new to report as I don't feel like getting on my soapbox about cruel and unusual punishment in Iraq. Oh, well, maybe just a little. The UN reported 34,000 Iraquis dead last year. I wonder if the families of those 34,000 think American occupation is better than Sadam Tyranny. If we play our cards right, we can certainly turn this mess into the end of the world. I've said this before. We invaded the wrong country. I'm not sure of the statistics, but I think something like 14 of the 911 perpetrators were Saudis. So is Osama! H'mmm. Makes you think doesn't it. I guess they buy too many 747's and F-16s for that though. China is drooling over the Iran oil fields and it is my understanding that they are already in the foreplay phase of the fucking they will give Iraq over that deal. Oh, well, enough for today. More regurgated bile later. Enjoy the pictures or not. Older Whiskey, Younger Women, Faster Horses, More Money, from a song by Tom T. Hall.

The Ice Man Cometh

Hello fan club, small me ye be! Tis Monday afternoon in Frigid Fort Worth. I finally got to work about 1:30 this afternoon and have not accomplished much as the temperature here at my desk is a balmy 57 degrees. That's with both heaters running all day. But first, I must digress in telling this episode of my less than exciting life. Friday it was 70 degrees here. When we woke up Sat. am, it was 31 with freezing drizzle/rain. It kept it up all weekend, with the temp hovering around 31 till last night when it dropped into the low 20's. When I awoke this morning I was paranoid about leaving for work as the last time I backed out during an ice storm, I slid down the hill and took out two of my neighbor's fence posts. So, I waited til about 1 in the afternoon to leave after it had thawed some. Combining MLK day with an ice storm and commerce in the Metroplex comes pretty much to a halt. Most of the people didn't go to work and those that did, did as little as possible. Anyway, it was 44 degrees here in my ice cave building this morning when my warehouse guy arrived. It is supposed to get down into the low 20s or maybe even the teens tonight as it clears off. I know that that's not very cold for those of you residing in the "Great White", but for Tejas it's pretty damn cold. Supposed to be cold all week and that really pisses me off in that it really affects business. Anyway, enough for the weather report. I'll try to post some ice pictures around the yard that Elizabeth took this morning before I left for work. She had MLK day off, being a teacher.

Friday afternoon and all is well.

Hello to everyone who reads this. Well, this is my second time today to try to post. I tried once before but I tried to save the draft and couldn't figure how to get it back. No Michelob Meanderings today. It was about 65 degrees and raining in Cowtown a few minutes ago but The Blue Northern from Hell just made its appearance. It is supposed to be cold all weekend. Well, I brought in the Wife's memory stick today and I'm going to try to upload some Christmas and miscellaneous pictures from the house, showing our kids. Heck, I even have one with Peggy in it. Yes, Peggy and I are on speaking terms and we all went to lunch with Sarah just before Christmas. Here gos nothing. Older Whiskey...

Time For Michelob Meanderings or Falstaff Forum

Well, in Texas we have an old Aggie Joke about the two Aggies who went into the watermelon business. They would drive from Dallas to Texarkana, buy a pickup load of watermelons for $1.00 each, load them up, drive back to Dallas and sell them at the Farmers Market for $1.00 each. After a month of doing this the taller aggie commented to the shorter aggie: "Hey, we're not making any money". To which the shorter Aggie replied, "Yes, I've noticed, maybe we need to get a bigger truck". And that folks leads me to "W" and his heartwarming speech last evening. Maybe we need more forces in Iraq! To me this is sooooo reminiscent of the shit that was transpriring in the last years of Viet Nam. We have 58,000 names on a wall for that last cause. How many names till we recognize this lost cause for what it is. We cannot fight that kind of war because we are the "Good Guys". To fight and win a war of insurgency we need to look back on the successful barbarians of yesteryear! Ghengis Kahn, Ceasar, Alexander, Sherman, Tojo, Hitler and Po Pot. Why do we think the terms Rape, Pillage and Plunder are associated with war?? War is about killing people and taking what belongs to them and making it your own. There is no room for Good Guys in war. That's why we'll never win this one. Democracy is a concept so alien to most of those people over there. Look at it this way. What if the USA was invaded, the government overthrown and a theocratic Islamic top-down government was installed? All the women would have to start wearing Berkas and all the men would have to grow a beard. Women would not be allowed to vote, drive or have any say in anything. How would that set here? Does the concept sound alien??? Well, then think about the people over there and how the concept of democracy is contrary to everything they were ever taught or learned. They didn't have to earn democracy, they had it imposed on them! Ok, where am I going with this? Here is what I think the American people need to see about our war. We need to see, every night, the graphic display of the blood, guts, burned and mangled bodies that the Arabs get to see on Al Jazera. We need to see it just like the people on the streets in Iraq get to see it every day. We don't. We are protected, by the censor of the Federal Government, as to what war really looks like. War is not a video game! Why do we think people suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrone? Why should our servicemen have to look at it but not us??? When Patton liberated a death camp in Germany, he made all the people in the local town come down and handle all the dead bodies. Guess What! They were appalled. War is about killing enough people until they submit to your new rules. Ask an American Indian. If we are not ready to go kill, rape, pillage and plunder in Iraq until they holler calf rope, we have no business of being there. Older Whiskey...

Grandpuppy and Other Pictures

Hello again to all of you that may be watching. Since my sister's blog site is smitten with K9 pictures, I'm enclosing some of my own for Show and Tell. The cocker is my grandpuppy, "Tyson". He belongs to James and the pictures are a couple years old a day or two after he was run over by a Suburban. It messed up his left foot but he has almost made a complete recovery. He is one tough little mutt and my constant lap companion when he comes over to the house for a visit. The other K9 is Abbey, the Dog/Buffalo mix. She is as comical as she looks and keeps us laughing with her antics. The humans pictured are "McBeefy" and his "Significant Other", Arin. She is a really nice girl. Oh yes, the one other picture is of me and Elizabeth on the road up to the top of Mt. Magazine in Arkansas last spring. They have developed a 1st. class resort on the top. Well, got to go for now as it is 5 pm and time for me and McBeefy to go for our thrice weekly walkathon, 2.8 miles along a trail in one of the parks here in Cowtown. Adios for now. Older Whiskey...